Touchstones... help.

[Delcor]

Can someone please explain to me how the touchstone feat works? As well as explain just generally everything about touchstones. /i'm a dnd veteran but I just don't understand them.

[Red Fel]

Well, a lot of it is contained in the feat description in the Planar Handbook. Basically, for each time you take the feat (which can be taken multiple times), you can attune yourself to a single Planar Touchstone. Attuning requires a small object from that location, and takes 24 hours. You can swap out one attunement for another, but can never be attuned to more Touchstones than you have instances of the feat. (So two feats means two Touchstones, three means three, etc.)

Being attuned to a Planar Touchstone grants you a base ability, as well as limited uses of a special or "Higher Order" ability, explained in the Touchstone's entry. You can refill your charges by visiting the Touchstone again.

Here's an example: The Burning Rift (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20040613a&page=3). Specifically:
Base Ability: You receive a +4 bonus on saving throws against fire effects.

Recharge Condition: Drink from the "headwaters" of the Rift River (which inflicts 5d6 points of fire damage, no save).

Higher-Order Ability: Once per day, you can create a fireball (as the spell), dealing 1d6 points of fire damage per character level (maximum 10d6). Caster level is equal to your character level. Save DC 13 + Charisma bonus.

Higher-Order Uses: 5.

In other words, after you've attuned to the Burning Rift, you receive a perpetual +4 to saves versus fire. You also receive 5 charges of a 1/day fireball, which you can refill by drinking from the Rift River.

If you visited another Touchstone, you could swap out the Burning Rift for that Touchstone and its abilities; if you took the feat a second time, you'd receive the benefits of both.

[Darrin]

There are two versions of the Touchstone feat.

Planar Touchstone (Planar Handbook): You need 8 ranks of Knowledge (The Planes) and you need a touchstone object (250 GP) linked to the planar location you want to link to. (The designers appear a little confused about the touchstone object... it looks like they want you to carry it around, so you can combine a "touchstone blade" with a weapon for +500 GP, but then they seem to have forgotten that you *destroy* the touchstone object when you create the link.) You do not need to actually visit the planar location to get the base ability, although if you do so, you can get a "Higher Order" ability with a certain number of activations.

Touchstone (Sandstone): This was printed after the Planar Handbook as sort of a non-planar version. The two feats have different names, and can be taken separately if you like. The prereqs have changed a bit from the planar version: you need 8 ranks of Knowledge (Local) *OR* a 250 GP touchstone key (meaning, if you can scrape up 250 GP with your starting gold, you could start 1st level with this feat). The linking ceremony is a little different... you can destroy the touchstone key, or 250 GP of material components instead.

As Red Fell says, just linking to a planar site gives you the base ability. You don't have to actually visit the site to get this base ability. If you actually visit, then you may have to perform a task, make a skill check, or defeat some kind of encounter to earn a "Higher Order" ability. You get a set number of Higher Order uses (usually 2-4) before you have to visit the site again to recharge it.

I made a list of Planar Touchstone (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?165534) sites with interesting abilities. One of these is the Catalogues of Enlightenment, the base ability of which allows you to pick up a Domain power as if you were a cleric with that domain, but with no restrictions on which deity you worship or what domains are in your deity's portfolio. If your DM allows the War domain to grant Exotic Weapon Proficiencies, this can be used to get two feats for the price of one: Weapon Focus + Exotic Weapon Proficiency for, say, spiked chain.

[Delcor]

Perfect. Thank you both.